A Little Experiment-- "We All Go A Little Mad Sometimes"

So, I had drafted up this post almost two months ago on November 2nd (sidebar: did November and December FLY by for anybody else?).  And I touched on this idea a little bit in my post about the Warner Archive movies that I selected as my 5 for $50.  I've decided to revisit it after seeing how fun it could be over at Out of the Past- Classic Film Blog.  And after getting a lovely gift from Ryan for my b-day, thank you so much Ryan!!!  So here's the experiment:

As I mentioned in an earlier post, for some reason I've been on a DVD boxset buying kick.  I'm not sure if it's because the prices for DVD box sets have been going down or if my lack of self control has been gone up.  In any case I've gone on a box set buying spree and I feel like I should do something productive with it.  So I think I can try to do some reviews, take some pictures, and share my thoughts of the boxsets.  I feel like they might be helpful for someone else who's interested in buying them or might just be fun posts for classic film enthusiasts like myself.

I'm going to start with the boxset that I got the most amazing deal on.
I got an email (back in October) from Amazon saying that the Alfred Hitchcock- The Masterpiece Collection  was the Gold Box Deal of the day for $50.99, which is still a little pricey.  But, I decided to pounce on it since I had a $25 Amazon gift card.  I couldn't pass up 14 Alfred Hitchcock movies for only $25.  Thanks to the free student prime account it shipped for free and arrived just two days later.  It is a beautiful boxset, that's put together very nicely and a great collection of Hitchcock's films.  I love the burgundy velvet covered case, with a cute little door.  Below are some pictures that I took of it.  As you can see it comes in the aforementioned velvet case, it has a cute little door/flap and it holds the 4 DVD cases that have 4 DVDs each.  I may have gotten a little out of control taking pictures, but it was fun, I felt like I was a photographer for an ad campaign, I enjoyed it and I hope you do too.

Look at that cute little door :)

 

The set not only includes the wonderful movies, but it's just put together so nicely and looks like it was made with care and consideration for the Alfred Hitchcock fans.  As you can see, each cover of to the DVDs have a recreation of the movie poster for each of the 4 movies it contains.  And the inside of each DVD case has an array of pictures related to the movies.  And the backs of the cases have a mini-description of the movie.  On top of all this wonderfulness, there is  and also includes a really nice booklet with great pictures from the films and movie posters.  I took some pictures of a couple of the pages, check 'em out below:




 

The 14 movies in the set are: Saboteur (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Rope (1948), Rear Window (1954), The Trouble with Harry (1955), The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956), Vertigo (1958), Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963), Marnie (1964), Torn Curtain (1966), Topaz (1969), Frenzy (1972), and Family Plot (1976).  After typing up the list like that it made me think that this boxset covers a 30+ year span of Hitchcock's career and how I'm now really looking forward to watching the movies in chronological order to see how Hitchcock develops as a storyteller and movie maker.  I've seen quite a few of these movies already, but I suppose I can somehow bring myself to watch them again. :)  There is also a 15th disc that contains Special Features, I'm looking forward to checking that out too, I love special features on DVDs and commentaries.

Here are a couple of shots of the inside of the booklet.

I've been an Alfred Hitchcock fan for quite some time now, so much of a fan in fact that I tracked down the lovely watch that is given out at the completion of the USC Film School's Alfred Hitchcock class.  I wish I had taken that course while I was a student there, but alas I was too young and foolish.  I did, however take a couple of film courses from one of the leading Alfred Hitchcock experts, Dr. Drew Casper, his voice can be heard on a handful of Alfred Hitchcock DVD commentaries (like Notorious and Lifeboat), anyway I digress.

So, I guess the plan for this 'little experiment' will be to share some pictures of said boxset, check!  Share thoughts about the collection, half check, and then I can go through the individual movies in more detail, check  minus:(  I think I'll leave that for another post.

Do you own any DVD collections?  Which ones are your favorites?

Giveaway Winner Announcement!

Welcome to all the new followers!  Thank you and I hope you continue to enjoy this blog!  And I'm so happy to see that there are so many people viewing my blog (not that I'm constantly checking my stats or anything :) ).  And a big thank you to whoever posted a link to my blog on facebook that seemed to get a lot of people over here.  So in summation I'm very thankful.

It was also so great to read everyone's favorite Joan Crawford role and why they liked it.  It seems like there's a nice split between liking witchy/bitchy/strong-willed Joan and her softer performance in 'Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?'.  Ultimately, I think it's wonderful that she acted in so many different types of movies and show her range and talent.

Now on to the moment we've all been waiting for!  The announcement of the winner of the Possessed: Life of Joan Crawford by Donald Spoto Giveaway!!!  Since this was my first giveaway I went ahead and entered anyone who commented on Joan Crawford even without following the blog or those who expressed interest in the giveaway without mentioning Joan Crawford.  And the winner is......

Raquelle! The first entry! Congratulations!  I hope you enjoy the biography, it's a great read.  I'm actually tempted to order myself a copy of it to add to my library.  I'll email you so I can get your mailing address and get the book sent on it's way as soon as possible.  This book is already well travelled, it came with me to NYC and to Philadelphia so I'm sure it'll be happy to continue.  Sorry to all the other people who entered, I hope to be doing more giveaways in the future.  So keep checking back in and better luck next time. 





Also, I highly recommend this book to any classic movie fans and especially Joan Crawford fans, so definitely try to see if your local library has it or at least check out the first chapter at amazon.

Thanks again to everyone and I hope your day is not as windy and rainy as mine.